6 Things to Know About Textbooks for Online Courses

When Regina Kizer took online nursing classes in two graduate nursing degree programs, she bought textbooks in all different formats.“I've tried eBooks; I've tried Kindle. I've tried purchasing them in hardback, and I've rented them as well,” says the 45-year-old Oklahoma resident, who earned a nursing master’s and doctoral degree from Frontier Nursing University.She says the decision to buy or rent textbooks – either from the school or elsewhere – in part boiled down to whether she planned to continue using the textbook as a career resource once a class finished. If so, she typically chose to purchase textbooks, often in print.“There’s something about having a book in front of you where you can flip through the pages and go to the information that you need,” says Kizer, though she acknowledges that individual students’ preferences will vary.If a student is simply fulfilling general education requirements as an undergraduate, Kizer says, it may make more sense to rent textbooks.